Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-01-31
100 RATS IN 42 SECONDS.
''Epgiish Jack" and His Re markable tents
in Cleaning Places of the Four Legged
Vsrmin.
New York Star.

| Vsrmin.
| New York Star.
Jay Gould paid $500 recently to have
his steam yacht Atalanta cleared of rats;
then he made contract with the man to
keep the Atalanta free from rats in consid-
Grafton of $500 year. There are in this
city men who make yearly contracts to
have their factories or stores kept free
J from rats, says the Philsdelphia Times,
and they pay from 500 to 500 a year.
| The professional rat-catcher of this city
is little old John Gregory, whose quaint
little figure, with his two terriers and his
| box Of ferrt IS on his back and his pipe In
| his mouth, is familiar il al parts of the
city. He is known as "EDglsh Jack"
He has been a professional rat-Catcher in
this city for more than thirty years.
| JACK is the most expert rdt-hsndler in
| this country. Although h is an Old man,
ne is as nlmble as ca, and he has taken
part in many rat-handiing match in this
city. Four years ago, at ohm DickSou's,
on Beach street, be picked up one hun
dred live rats with his bare hands in one
minute and three seconds. His best
rec I'd was made about years ago,
when he handled one hundred rats in
1urty-tWO SECONDS.
The last match in which he picked up
one hundred rats he was bitten 3 dozen
times, and he nearly lost one of his fingers.
JACK comes of real old English sporting
stock, aad when rat-killlng and handling
matches were favorite spert he supplied
the rat-pits with the live rodents. Many
of the rat mains that have taken place in
New York and Philadelphia in the past
,A-,,, rod al, -,
paved Jack well for his trouble In his
little barn, back of his quaint little house
at Furty-seventh street and Darby road,
he sat yesterday with his pipe in his
mouth and g ferret crawling over his
shoulder. He stroked the fur on he fer
ret's back and said, III his broad English:
"Aye, lad, I've caught many thousand
rats. I've cleared them out of many a
genteman's stable. out Of stores and
ships. I've had my ferrets to work in
LO illard's and Bonner's and Dryers
stables. I've had them in the hold of
many an ocean steamship Mr.. Cassatt
is one If my patrons, and, IN fact, me and
INV ferretS Is patronizsd by the first gen
tlemen Of the land"
Jack went on to tell how, during the war,
when Fort Delaware was crowded with
rebel prisoners, the place was overrun
with rats. The soldiers couldn't sleep
for them and Jack was sent for. He put
his dogs and ferTets to work, and for
three months he lived az the fort. He
killed thousands If rats, and then went
to Fort NJ liiln, where he worked for a
month, and he says he killed enough rats
to ill & freight Car.
The rat-cetcher uses from five to ten
ferretS and his wo terriers and 8 rat net.
The dogs scent the rat-holes. Then the
ferrets are put into the holes. The rats
run from the ferrets to the holes where
thy run into the nets. Sometimes she
rat shows battle TO protect her young, but
q rat is no match tor ferret. The ferrets
only kill about one rat out OF ten. The
rest of the rats run into the nets and then
the dogs kill them. A ferret catches q
rat by the throat sucks its blood and then
leaves it. The ferrets destroy all the nests
and young rats, but after a ferret has ap-
peased its appetite it is useless until it
gets hungry again. Jack keeps his ferrets
hungry as much as possible. Jack went
on to say of his ferrets:
OTIS harder and more dangerous for
the ferrets TO work in the city than ID I.e
country. Sometimes they will get in
sewer or well-hole and perish, or they
will come out of sewer two or three
squares away from where they en.ered
and dogs Will kill them. Very often there
is poison in the holes, which has been put
in to kill the rats. The rats carry it to
all parts Of the passage, but when know
it | never let my ferrets work where
poison has been used. Ferrets are
worth from $40 to SIS. They have to be
imported. l tried to breed ferrets here
and succeeded in raising fifty, but they
were puny and didn't live long. This
climate don't agree with them. My
ferrets don't live over two or three years,
and it takes a good deal of money to keep
q good stock on hand. I've had as high
as 100 at time. They have to be given
the tenderest care AMI kept from catching
cold. I've made a power of money catch
ing rats, and I've spent power of it for
ferrets. | charge from So to $50 8 job,
according to the quantity of rats likely to
be in the place. l don't know who'll take
my place when I'm gone There's money
in tine business, and there'l always be a
d mand for good ratcatcher."
''Rats?" said night Waterman down
on the wharf of a Southern steamship
line last night. "Why, there's more rats
hopping along Delaware avenue at night
than there are stones in the street. AL
the wnarves where provisions are stored
are swarmIng with rais. They do thou
sands and thousands of dollars worth CT
damage year. I've seen rats running
across this wharf as big as cats and as
bold as lions. They gov very large and
fat and hardy here on the wharves.
They're different from the stable rats and
the rats that live in big stores. They're
tougher. The water rats that have their
nests underneath the Wharves grow very
bold in winter and forsge over the
for winter rations. A hungry
rat is an ugly animal. The water rats
and the land rats don't mingle with each
other"
An old red-faced policeman standing in
one of the market sheds on Girard avenue
said last night that he'd rather tackle
prize Fighter than big rat.
They're wishus," he said; "turn on
you and Jump at you when they get cor
nered. I've seen regular professions OF
'em in this here market, but l never inter-
fere with 'em. l don't like to have moth
ing to do with rats"